`Progressive grunge’ band Lithium is injecting some vitality into Cape Town’s ailing music scene. Malu van Leeuwen reports
LITHIUM, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a “soft silver-white metallic element”. Well, there is a metallic edge to their music, and they are four white boys. But no, Lithium is definitely not soft. In their own words, they’re “new wave hard rock”, “very heavy”, “progressive grunge” and “positive musically, compared to what was going on before”.
While Lithium do tend to sound like the lyrical angst of Pearl Jam, bled into the chugging basslines of Tad, the band provides a more than welcome change to the plethora of South African Chili Peppers-styled rock outfits. Comparisons to Nirvana also spring to mind, not least because Lithium take their name from a song on Nirvana’s album, Nevermind. However, it’s one thing to emulate international trends, and quite another to mould them to a South African context.
Drummer Simon Portlock insists that “we want to make it happen, we want to make it badly”. As bassist Paul Opie understands it, this is why Lithium is “a lot more organised than other bands” — largely thanks to energetic manager Paris Lucas. His efforts have resulted in a Lithium fanclub, plus regular newsletters and T-shirts. Nonetheless, says Portlock, it’s “very difficult. We do get tense with each other, it’s only normal. But we’re in this because we want to make it, not because we’re having a jol.” But as soon as the band steps out of the practice room, the jol begins: Lithium gigs do, as one fan put it, “rock out”. Heads bang in unison to the powerchord onslaught, with only a ballad or two providing the necessary physical relief.
Some of the vitality of Lithium’s live performance is captured on their recently released demo, recorded and mixed by the band members themselves. While the melancholy lyrics of Eyes Awake weave into a haunting, dreamy melody, other songs — the anthemic Another Boring Sunday Afternoon, for example — rage mighty and aggressive. Self-indulgent lead breaks are thankfully rare, as are naff lyrics, such as on Pure Greary where the chorus line “you’re pretty but you’re braindead” drones repetitively. Although the band members write their music together, the lyrics are credited to vocalist and guitarist David Owens. Women seem to feature quite strongly on his agenda, but that territory is probably best left unexplored.
Lithium’s plans extend beyond live gigs and self- produced demos. December saw them in Johannesburg, performing at the Doors in a seven-band marathon purportedly for the benefit of EMI’s A&R honchos. Tusk’s Benjy Moodie is also reputed to have claimed Lithium was “one of Cape Town’s hottest bands”, and that Tusk was seriously considering signing them in the new year. So far, little has been translated on to paper — or into hard cash.
But the band has no intention of remaining one of Cape Town’s best-kept secrets. In December Lithium held their first proper concert, deliberately planned to break with the depressing ritual of the club circuit. Lucas explains that the concert was expressly designed with a “big venue, big sound, big crowd feel” to it.
So, while the debate regarding local music broadcasting continues apace, indications are that some bands are no longer prepared to stand on ceremony. In the laidback city — that’s Cape Town, for the uninitiated — chances are that Lithium may well live up to the other interpretation of their name: an anti-depressive chemical substance.
Lithium fanclub: PO Box 43817, Fishoek, 7975